If you have not watched this movie yet, please take some time to see it and enjoy wiping your tears that will stream down your face.
Disclaimer: You might end up missing your grandfather too. And if there's any chance, see yourself running your way to where he is, to hug him tight.
Life may have given you a lot of challenges as you live but what matters the most is how you fight them well before you step at the very last stage of life which is death. With the themes about principles, fairness, loyalty, love, and separation, this movie named “A Man Called Ove” is all about an old grumpy man who had undergone so many bad experiences in life. After the death of his wife, he lived alone in a community where he controls the rules especially when it is about the cars entering their neighborhood. During his remaining days, he will meet with some people who will change his perspective in life and made him believe that he could still be a good person even when he is showing too much grumpiness. Although he has done many attempts to kill himself, he ends up sleeping peacefully and died naturally during the winter season.
The character of the movie who caught my attention is Ove, the main character in the story. Because he has a very strong personality which he uses as his defense mechanism. He might be pushing away the people who are trying to approach him but inside, he wants someone to be with him because he is so lonely. Moreover, Ove is an inspiration to those who are facing a lot of challenges in their life today. The part of the movie that I like the most is when he died naturally while sleeping because it shows that he is finally done with his mission in life. At his very last moments, he was able to show good deeds to the people around him and also had a chance to hold a baby since he never experienced doing that. I think he is also happy when he finally died too because he will finally meet his father and wife in heaven.
The occurrence of Discriminative or Instructional Listening was shown on the scene wherein Ove fell on the ground after attempting suicide. In there, he shared back his memories of being a child with his father, of seeing his father die, of seeing his house being burnt by the bad guys, and the memories of the day when he met the love of his life. While in strategies of listening, there is a scene wherein a young Ove is showing interest while carefully listening to his father who is teaching him about vehicles. By this, he gained a lot of knowledge about cars. The lesson of the story about listening is, it is always important to not only listen but deeply understand the tone or mood of the speaker. Being critical in observing the tone of the speaker could an idea to the listener about the feelings and emotions of the one who is talking. It does reflect the attitude of the Filipino people today because sometimes, we are already forgetting the essence of listening to others. There are times that we are only listening to ourselves and invalidating other’s voices.
In the story, I have realized that sometimes, people show an unpleasant attitude because they are really hurt inside. Unintentionally, the pain causes a person to push away other people but at the end of the day, a good person will always be a good person no matter how hard they try to be bad. I don’t have questions to raise because the movie satisfied me from the start until the very end. But it only made me wonder what will happen to the community he has taken care of for a very long time. I have learned that listening is important and to be able to do it effectively, there are ways to be followed and need to be practiced. As a communication student, I will put it all in my mind every day so I won’t do hearing instead of listening. Lastly, I became inspired to be a better listener to what others feel about things.